Apparatus for charging horizontal coke ovens



May 21 1957 H. wAsse-.RMANN ETAL 2793176 APPARATUS FOR CHARGING HORIZONTAL COKE OVENS Filed Dec. 5o, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENToRs H. wAssl-:RMANN 'E1-AL May 2l, 1957 APPARATUS FOR CHARGING HORIZONTAL COKE OVENS Filed DSC. 30, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 10aa/L VAN @CKEBA/ Hex/veic# 'L4/4.5.5 Epmnf/H ai@ /72 .m4

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United States Patent O APPARATUS FOR CHARGING HORIZONTAL COKE OVENS Heinrich Wassermann, Dortmund-Horde, and Paul Van Ackereu, Essen, Germany, assignors, by mesne assignments, to Koppers Company, Inc., Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Delaware Application December 30, 1955, Serial No. 556,605

8 Claims. (Cl. 202-251) Horizontal coking chamber ovens of the cross regenerative type of Koppers U. S. Patent 818,033 are charged, as is known, by means of charging cars movable along the top of the oven roof and provided with individual funnel-shaped outlets corresponding to the charging holes in the top `of the oven. Although the funnel outlets are provided with drop sleeves lowerable on the charging holes in `the top of the oven, a certain accumulation of coal on the edge of the rim` of the charging holes, espe; cially on the rim edge of the charging hole that usually extends conically upwards cannot be avoided. This accumulation of coal must, therefore, be swept oi into the holes by hand by the operating personnel who are exposed to a great annoyance by the charging gases while so doing.

The object of the present invention resides in the employment of means for feed of sweep gas in coaction with the charging apparatus for horizontal coke ovens for avoiding such an accumulation of c'oal on the rim edge of the charging hole and the troublesome operation of manually sweeping of the coal therefrom into and through said holes into the oven chambers.

This problem is solved according to the invention by arranging around the discharge outlet of each charging funnel of the charging car an annular sweep chamber closed above and at its sides and open below having connected therewith a line for conveying gaseous or vaporous sweep pressure medium thereto, and the bottom of which is provided with an annular slit nozzle to direct the discharge toward the rim edge of the charging hole.

By the introduction of the gaseous or vaporous pressure medium, e. g. steam or compressed air, into the annular chamber at the beginning of the coal charging process, an annular fluid screen is formed which prevents, even at the beginning of the coal charging process, a deposition of coal on the rim edge of the charging hole. While the present invention contemplates the provision of said sweep chamber intermediate the outer sides of the discharge outlet and a surrounding drop sleeve. The latter is not always essential. By means of such a sweeper construction of the funnel discharge of coke oven charging apparatus, under certain circumstances, the usual arrangement of drop sleeves lowerable onto the oven roof can be eliminated in the case of use of sufficiently high pressure on the Sweep pressure medium.

In the preferred arrangement with drop sleeves lowerable onto'the top of the charging holes of the oven, the annular chamber while connected with the pressure mediurn line is also rigidly arranged around the lower outlet end of the charging funnel and the nozzle-shaped annular slit is inclined to discharge towards the bottom of and against the inner surface of the lowered drop sleeve.

A good s'eal against the escape of charging gases is further achieved according to the invention by providing a flange of the lowerable drop sleeve with a labyrinth seal, and `by ythe combination of the aforesaid features with a charging-gas suction device connected to the charging funnel, the ilow of charging gas which is very annoying to operating personnel is practically completely avoided.

The removal of all or part of the charging gases during the charging of the coal and the leveling thereof, as heretofore practiced in this art was effected either by a charging gas suction apparatus, operable alternatively for discharge directly into the atmosphere or with a previous burning of the same by `a combustion apparatus connected with the charging gas suction apparatus, kor by flow of the charging gas, under suction, oit by means of a steam injector arranged in a part of the ascension pipes connected with the conventional collecting main. In the latter case the suction of the charging gas required a comparatively high steam pressure and a very high steam consumption which results in considerably high operating costs. In the former case the discharge of the charging gases into the atmosphere and also in the form of burned Waste gases, in which considerable amounts of ily ash are present, has caused considerable annoyance to the surroundings.

The use of compressed air as pressure medium for the removal rof the coal charging gas requires, on the contrary, only a fraction of the operating costs for the steam injector suction in the collecting main, regardless of whether or not the compressed air is taken from a compressed air network usually present in coke plants or is produced in a compressed air generator arranged on the charging car.

A further object of the present preferred embodiment of the invention is to introduce into the oven chamber the pressure medium to be blown into the charging hole of the oven roof at such a pressure that the coal charging gases also are forced through the ascension pipe into the collecting main.

In this way, in addition to the prevention of the accumulation of coal on the edge of the cover of the charging hole, the charging gases are removed with the same pressure medium through the collecting main.

Thus a further object of the invention is to utilize this sweep air means for forcing the charging gases, formed during charging, into said collecting main. A compressed air generator arranged on the charging car can consist for the present purpose of this invention of a small unit which requires very little supervision and has the advantage that a time-consuming connection to a network by means of a connecting coupling is eliminated every time compressed air is needed.

Thus, still another and preferred object of the invention is the arrangement of a compressed air generator on the charging car for these purposes.

The annular chamber arranged on each charging funnel outlet of the charging car can have discharge openings made in any optional manner. It is only essential that the pressure medium leaving through the discharge openings form an annular screen of such high pressure that it forces the charging gases from the oven chamber into the collecting main, while avoiding the formation of an accumulation of coal on the edge of ythe charging hole of the oven roof. Thus, a slit shaped, nozzle like opening can be arranged in the bottom of the annular chamber. However, the pressure medium can also discharge through a series of openings distributed around the circumference essentially vertically towards the bottom or also tangentially inclined towards the bottom in such manner that a twisting motion of the pressure medium results which is transmitted into the Oven chamber under the 'necessary pressure.

Fig. l is a vertical section through a coking chamber top and the lower part of a charging funnel of a .coke oven larry rcharging apparatus embodying the invention.

Fig. 2 shows the lower portion of the 'drop sleeve' lowered onto the top of the oven and illustrating the labyrinth seal.

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view through one coke oven of a battery, with the charging funnels of my invention shown thereon and also connected to a collecting main for optional withdrawal, in whole or in part through the main, rather than through the vent and combustion apparatus into the atmosphere and with a compressed air generator on the car.

The charging car A is movable on the oven roof 1 of the oven battery on tracks 2 by propulsion means thereon (not shown in the drawing) in the direction of arrows 3. The oven battery B is formed by oven chambers 4 which are arranged next to one another with heating walls therebetween and of which only one oven chamber 4 is illustrated in the drawing. Each oven chamber has in the oven roof 1 a number of charging holes 5, for example four or tive, through which the to-be-coked coal is charged into the oven chamber 24 from the larry car A. The charging holes 5 have at the upper part an upwardly inclined edge which is provided with a cast steel rim 6. Each oven is also connected as conventionally with a collecting main 34 by an individual ascension pipe 35.

The charging car consists of a number of charging hoppers 7 associated with the charging holes 5 of the oven roof. Hoppers 7 terminate at a distance above the oven roof and are closed by segmental slide valves 8. The bottom openings 9 of the individual charging hoppers are surrounded by a guide funnel 10 with the formation of an annular space 23 therebetween. Guide funnel 10 is lirmly connected by means of a horizontal annular wall 11 with the charging hopper 7. The guide funnel 10 has at the bottom a discharge opening 12 which is essentially the same as the cross section of the charging hole 5 and terminates somewhat above the oven roof 1. An annular chamber 13, which has at its bottom a narrow downwardly opening annular nozzle slit 14, is arranged around discharge opening 12.

Around annular chamber 13 there is movably arranged a drop sleeve 15 which is lowered on the oven roof before the beginning of the charging process and has at the bottom an outwardly directed flange 16. As apparent from Fig. 2, flange 16 has at the bottom annular spaces 17 by which a labyrinth seal is attained after lowering to the oven deck. Furthermore, at the lower part of the drop sleeve 15 there is installed an annular inclined rim 18 directed towards the inside of the charging hole 5.

Annular slit 14 insures that a jet of a gaseous or vaporous pressure medium under pressure is directed downwardly and inclinedly onto the drop sleeve 15 and ows down the latter over the annular piece 18 while on the cast steel rim 6, toward the inside of the charging hole 5.

The annular chambers 13 of each guide funnel 10 of the individual charging funnels 7 are connected by lines 19 with a distribution main 20 to which a hose 21 for conveying the fluid pressure medium thereto is connected. The connection is preferably made by means of an automatic pipe coupling 22 which assures an immediate gastight coupling on pushing both parts of the coupling together and after supply of the pressure medium.

A pipe 24 is connected on the upper part of the anular space 23 formed inside the guide funnels 1t). The pipes 24 of several hoppers are connected with a collecting main 25 through which the coal charging gases formed upon charging are vented to the atmosphere or withdrawn by means of a suitable suction apparatus, for example a combustion apparatus igniter 37.

When a pressure medium of sufficiently high pressure is available, the arrangement of a drop sleeve 15 can be dispensed with under certain circumstances. In this case the annular slit 14 of the annular chamber 13 terminates lower down so as to be only slightly above oven roof 1 and directs the pressure down directly onto the inclined surface of the cast steel rim 6.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, as shown in Fig. 3, the larry is also provided with an air compressor 30 operable by electric motor 31, and a cornpressed air tank 32, which is connected by valve 33 with the line 20, for use optionally together in whole or in part with the vent and combustion vent system and line 21 to the steam or air main 38 on the battery.

In operation, during charging of the respective ovens 4, which are arranged side by side in a row in alternation with intermediate ued heating walls therefore, the larry carA, filled with coal, is run along the top 1 of the battery B and spotted over the charging holes 5 of one oven 4 to be relilled with coal. Drop sleeves 15, if used, are then dropped to close the space between the lower funnels 10 and the top of liner 6 around the rim of each hole 5, thus causing the inclined rim to bridge the gap between the drop sleeves 15 and the rims 16. These sleeves are conventionally operable by levers, not shown, from the larry car A. Thereupon the valves 8 are opened also by means of operating gear therefor (not shown) on the larry car A. The coal then flows in by gravity from the hoppers 7 through the funnels to the charging holes 5. At this time the valves 36 for the ascension pipe 35 for that oven being recharged with coal may be open or closed. If opened, part of the coal charging gases and smoke pass off into the main while steam or air from the line 38 on the oven roof passes through conduit 21, valve 22 and pipe 20 to, or compressed air from tank 32, or fluid pressure medium from both sources simultaneously ows into, the chamber 13. From this chamber 13 the uid pressure medium as thus supplied ows through slit 14 down along the inside surface of the drop sleeve 15 and over the inclined rim 18, thus flushing it free of accumulation of coal, which passes into the charging holes 5 along with coal passing directly thereto from the funnels 10. The remaining part of the gases of charging pass upwardly through the chamber 23 to the channel 25 and are vented out to the atmosphere through the combustion apparatus. If igniter 37 is not utilized, such gases pass out without ignition for pre-combustion by means of igniter 37. Air for precombustion iniiltrates through the open space between parts 39 and 40.

When pre-combustion is employed, such gases and smoke are burned before discharging to the atmosphere through the stack 40.

Optionally, all the charging gases may be discharged through the stack 40, with or without pre-combustion, when it is considered expedient not to have the coal charging gases and smoke enter the main 34 where it would mix with the gases of distillation from the other ovens 4 and being given ol therein by coking in such other ovens concurrently with the recharging of the ing, then, optionally valve 41 is closed and compressed air from tank 32 flows solely into chamber 13 to the charging holes 5 during the operation of charging coal thereto from the hoppers 7. At this time the valve 36 for the ascension pipe 35 of the oven being recharged is opened so that all of the smoke and gases, as well as the dust from rim 18 sweeps through the charging holes 5 and crown space 42 above the coal in the oven chambers 4, to How out through the ascension pipe 35 into mixture with the gases iiowing through the main 34 from the other ovens undergoing dir'erent stages of carbonization.

In such case substantially smokeless charging is thereby l attained with less costly operation, there being sufficient pressure from tank 32 to induce substantially all smoke and gas to nd its way through the oven collecting space 41 and enter the main 34, rather than escape to the atmosphere either through the emptying, and later fully empty hoppers 7, or through the chamber 13 an-d line 25 by way of the stack 37 to the surrounding atmosphere.

While all of the advantages of the invention are readily and easily attained when employing all the aforesaid novel features in conjunction with each other, the invention is not limited in all its aspects to the employment of all features together. Much of the advantage and utility of novel features of the invention -are attainable without also employing other novel features therewith. Thus the fea ture of the iiui'd supply to the rim 18 by means of chamber 13 around the hopper outlet and its funnel may be employed with the air compressor without having the line 20 connected to the conduit 38 and with the chamber 23 being provided with the connections or vent to the atmosphere, as by the stack 37. This stack arrangement is also of utility with the line 20 connected to the conduit 3S without having the provision on the larry car of the equipment 30, 31, and 32 for supply air under pressure thereon; and the rim discharge means in the form of 'the chamber 13 may surround the outlet for hopper 7 in like manner to that shown but with a different arrangement than the funnel for hopper 7.

Hence the invention is not coniined in all its aspects to the specic use and speciiic embodiments as herein set forth as the best mode contemplated for embodying the same.

We claim:

l. Coke oven coal charging apparatus comprising, the combination with a coke oven battery having coking chambers with charging holes in the top of the roof of the battery for introduction lof coal to the chambers through the oven roof, and a larry car movable along the top of the battery into position for charging coal through the charging holes of a chamber, said larry car comprising coal hoppers and downspouts for registery with the charging holes, an annular chamber arranged around the lower discharge portion of each downspout and provided with a line connection thereto for ilow of gaseous uid medium thereto, and .an annular nozzle in the bottom of said annular chamber for directing said gaseous uid medium past the rim of the charging hole into the same.

2. Coke oven charging apparatus as claimed in claim l, and in which the annular chamber is stationarily connected to a downspout portion stationarily connected to the hopper, and in which a lowerable drop sleeve is arranged around the annular chamber to close the gap between the rims of the charging holes and the lower end of the downspout of the hopper.

3. Coke oven charging apparatus as claimed in claim 2, and in which the lower portion of the drop sleeve is provided with a labyrinth seal for the joint between it and the top of the oven roof surrounding the charging holes.

4. Coke charging apparatus as claimed in claim 1, and which includes ascension pipes each with a valve therein in communication with a collecting main for oi-ilow of smoke and gas during charging of coal into the oven chambers, and compressed air generator means mounted directly on said larry car and connected with said line connection for flow of compressed air under pressure around and along with coal owing through the downcomer into the charging holes during charging to eiect forced flow of smoke and gas evolved during charging into said collecting main by way of a gas free space above coal in said ovens.

5. Coke oven charging apparatus as claimed in claim 4, and in which the downspout portion of the hopper comprises an inverted frusto-conical funnel in spaced overlapping relation with the lower portion of the hopper, a gas and smoke off-take main connected With the interior of the funnels of several hoppers, a vent stack from the smoke off-take main to the atmosphere with ignition means therein, for optional off-How of part or all of the coal charging gas and smoke to the atmosphere.

6. Coke oven charging apparatus as claimed in claim 5, and which also includes a steam line on said oven battery roof with detachable connections to said line connection for optional ilow of steam as the gaseous media to said annular chamber.

7. Apparatus as claimed in claim l, and which includes a steam line on said oven battery with detachable connections to said line connection for flow of steam as the gaseous media to said annular chamber.

8. Apparatus as claimed in claim 7, and in which the downspout portion of the hopper comprises an inverted frusta-conical funnel in spaced overlapping relation with the lower portion of the hopper, a gas and smoke off-take connection with the interior of the tunnels of several of said hoppers, and a Vent stack from the smoke off-take main to the atmosphere with ignition means therein, for ci-iiow of part or all of the coal charging gas and smoke to the atmosphere.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

1. COKE OVEN COAL CHARGING APPARATUS COMPRISING, THE COMBINATION WITH A COKE OVEN BATTERY HAVING COKING CHAMBERS WITH CHARGING HOLES IN THE TOP OF THE ROOF OF THE BATTERY FOR INTRODUCTION OF COAL TO THE CHAMBERS THROUGH THE OVEN ROOF, AND A LARRY CAR MOVABLE ALONG THE TOP OF THE BATTERY INTO POSITION FOR CHARGING COAL THROUGH THE CHARGING HOLES OF A CHAMBER, SAID LARRY CAR COMPRISING COAL HOPPERS AND DOWNSPOUTS FOR REGISTERY WITH THE CHARGING HOLES, AN ANNULAR CHAMBER ARRANGED AROUND THE LOWER DISCHARGE PORTION OF EACH DOWNSPOUT AND PROVIDED WITH A LINE CONNECTION THERETO FOR FLOW OF GASEOUS FLUID MEDIUM THERETO, AND AN ANNULAR NOZZLE IN THE BOTTOM OF SAID ANNULAR CHAMBER FOR DIRECTING SAID GASEOUS FLUID MEDIUM PAST THE RIM OF THE CHARGING HOLE INTO THE SAME. 